The King of Elfland's Daughter is a 1924 fantasy novel by Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany. It is widely recognized as one of the most influential and acclaimed works in all of fantasy literature. Although the novel faded into relative obscurity following its initial release, it found new longevity and wider critical acclaim when a paperback edition was released in 1969 as the second volume of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It has also been included in a more recent series of books reprinting the best of modern fantasy, the Fantasy Masterworks series. While seen as highly influential upon the genre as a whole, the novel was particularly formative in the (later-named) subgenres of fairytale fantasy and high fantasy.
(Reread.) Dunsany's writing is amazing. Lyrical and evocative. It takes me a while to get into it each time I read one of his longer works — time to adjust the rhythm of my reading to match the prose. But it's worth it. Scenes like the forging of Alveric's sword and the arrival of the visitors in Erl sing with beauty.
